Kingston's active transportation plan approved, but not without bumps

Kingston city councillors and city staff talk about a deferral of the active transportation implementation plan during a break in proceedings at Tuesday night's council meeting in Kingston. (Elliot Ferguson/The Whig-Standard)Elliot Ferguson / Elliot Ferguson/Whig-Standard

KINGSTON — It came with approximately $23 million of planned infrastructure spending over the next five years, but it was what wasn’t in the plan to implement the city’s active transportation strategy that had some city councillors peeved.

Council voted 9-4 to approve the implementation plan, essentially the details of how the goals of the active transportation strategy will be met, but it came under fire from some councillors who said their districts were overlooked.

“There is nothing for the downtown,” Sydenham District Coun. Peter Stroud said.

“It’s all about getting to the core, it’s not about doing anything to the core.”

Loyalist-Cataraqui District Coun. Simon Chapelle said he was disappointed that sidewalks in the Westbrook neighbourhood — including those leading to an elementary school — were not among the first round of the project.

Councillors for the rural areas of the city, Pittsburgh District Coun. Ryan Boehme and Countryside District Coun. Gary Oosterhof, went as far as to call for a deferral of the implementation plan to November.

Oosterhof called the plan “urban centric” and said citywide plans like this should include all areas of the city.

“When we don’t do that, we exclude,” he said. “And I don’t think any of our districts should be excluded.”

Boehme and Oosterhof were seeking to have a larger project in the rural parts of the city added to the first five years of the implementation plan.

That deferral was withdrawn after councillors and staff gathered during a break in proceedings.

“This is an incredibly slippery slope we are on,” Mayor Bryan Paterson said.

“It is very dangerous if we fall into the trap of fighting for our districts. There are times when we have to put our districts aside and do what is best for the city.”

The active transportation master plan includes more than $127 million of infrastructure to be built during the next 20 years.

The plan would create a network of close to 1,100 kilometres of pedestrian and cycling routes and facilities and includes more than 735 kilometres that already exist.

For the first five years of the implementation plan, the focus is to be on developing local transportation networks in three areas of the city: the Bayridge area, Reddendale and Henderson areas, and the North King’s Town area.

The routes that are to be established first, according to the implementation plan, include Route 8 on the Rideau Trail, Queen Mary Road, Brock Street and Johnson Street; Route 6 along Bayridge Drive, Henderson Boulevard, Days Road, Front Road and Union Street; Route 3 on Taylor-Kidd Boulevard, John Counter Boulevard and Gore Road, which includes the new bridge over the Cataraqui River; and Route 14 on Leroy Grant Drive and the Leroy Grant Drive off-road trail.

The initial implementation plan also seeks to close gaps and shortcomings in the existing active transportation network.

City council approved on Tuesday about $23 million of cycling and pedestrian infrastructure to be built over the next five years in Kingston. (Elliot Ferguson/The Whig-Standard)jpg, KI